Convicted, killer gets life for gunning down ex-girlfriend in W. Volusia

Convicted, killer gets life for gunning down ex-girlfriend in W. Volusia

Published: Thursday, March 6, 2014 at 11:09 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, March 6, 2014 at 10:22 p.m.

DAYTONA BEACH — It was game over Thursday for Scott Austin Stuut II who said he was playing with police as they focused on him for the murder of his ex-girlfriend. He was found guilty of first-degree murder and then a judge sentenced him to life in prison.

The three women and nine men on the jury also found Stuut, 26, guilty of burglary while armed when he slipped into 59-year-old Margaret Gee's house north of DeLand on March 2, 2012, and shot her to death.

Stuut's shoulders slumped and he looked down as a clerk read the word “guilty” on the murder charge.

Circuit Judge Frank Marriott sentenced Stuut to life in prison without parole for the murder. Marriott will sentence Stuut on the armed burglary in about a month because his defense attorney requested a pre-sentence investigation.

Games were important for Stuut, who was an avid player of the tabletop fantasy game Dungeons and Dragons.

In an interview room in March 2012, as he waited for investigators but being taped, Stuut talked to himself about playing games with police.

“Anticipating or anticipation leads to fun games,” Stuut said alone in the room. “You think too far ahead, you know your opponent's moves, it's boring. It's best to play by ear.”

On the stand during his trial, Stuut told his defense attorney Peter Warren Kenny that he was merely playing another game when he confessed to law enforcement that he had killed Gee.

“Everything that interests me is a game,” Stuut said. “Chemistry is a game. Science is a game. Life to me is a game, because there's always surprises, always something to keep you excited, unless you just do nothing.”

Assistant State Attorney J. Ryan Will, who prosecuted the case along with Karen Foxman, told jurors that Stuut confessed to details of the crime that weren't even known by the investigators who talked to him the day after the murder.

“He had shot her twice in the chest to watch her suffer and then he waited a few moments to enjoy the pleasure of that and shot her once again in the face so that he could watch as the life slowly drained from her body,” Will said in his closing argument.

Stuut met Gee at an event for the Society for Creative Anachronism, an international organization in which members assume different personas and recreate the history of the Middle Ages and Renaissance era.

The DeLand-based group Gee was part of is called Shire of Vaca Del Mar, or cow of the sea.

Gee had served as the group's leader, or “seneschal,” at one time. Gee was known as the Honorable Lady Nekhbet Alexandra Selene after an Egyptian goddess who protected Upper Egypt and its rulers.

Stuut started renting a room from Gee and the relationship became romantic. The two eventually broke it off by mutual agreement, Stuut testified, but he continued renting a room.

Prosecutors said Stuut was mooching off the woman. She grew tired of him and when he took a spear that belonged to her and stuck it through a door she kicked him out. That angered Stuut, who found himself living in a car without access to a computer. Several weeks later, Stuut slipped into Gee's house through a sliding glass door and cut her neck and shot her to death.

The baby of Gee's roommates was in the house in another room during the killing.

When Volusia County sheriff's investigators went to talk to Stuut he walked out of his grandparent's home with his hands in the air even though deputies had not even told him what they were there for. He initially denied killing her but gave investigators details of the murder that even they did not yet know. During the trial Stuut claimed that one of Gee's roommates had called a friend who in turn relayed the information of her murder to him.

Then on March 27, 2012, Stuut showed up on his own at the DeLand Police Department and told a detective: “I killed Margaret Gee.” He told the same thing to sheriff's Investigator Charles Lee. Stuut said he had put the .38-caliber revolver and the knife on random semi-trucks and that the weapons were long gone.

Kenny said that besides Stuut's story, investigators had no DNA, no fingerprints, no weapons tying him to the murder. He said the investigation made Stuut, called “Zero” by other jail inmates, feel important. Kenny referred to Stuut in the interview.

“He's sitting there and he starts rubbing his hands just like Snidely Whiplash or some cartoon villain,” Kenny said. “This is some guy who still thinks he is still playing games.”

Gee's daughter-in-law Veturia Gee, 34, of Daytona Beach said she still missed Margaret Gee, calling her a “terrific woman.”

<p>DAYTONA BEACH — It was game over Thursday for Scott Austin Stuut II who said he was playing with police as they focused on him for the murder of his ex-girlfriend. He was found guilty of first-degree murder and then a judge sentenced him to life in prison. </p><p>And it took a jury only 18 minutes to return the verdict.</p><p>The three women and nine men on the jury also found Stuut, 26, guilty of burglary while armed when he slipped into 59-year-old Margaret Gee's house north of DeLand on March 2, 2012, and shot her to death.</p><p>Stuut's shoulders slumped and he looked down as a clerk read the word “guilty” on the murder charge. </p><p>Circuit Judge Frank Marriott sentenced Stuut to life in prison without parole for the murder. Marriott will sentence Stuut on the armed burglary in about a month because his defense attorney requested a pre-sentence investigation.</p><p>Games were important for Stuut, who was an avid player of the tabletop fantasy game Dungeons and Dragons.</p><p>In an interview room in March 2012, as he waited for investigators but being taped, Stuut talked to himself about playing games with police.</p><p>“Anticipating or anticipation leads to fun games,” Stuut said alone in the room. “You think too far ahead, you know your opponent's moves, it's boring. It's best to play by ear.”</p><p>On the stand during his trial, Stuut told his defense attorney Peter Warren Kenny that he was merely playing another game when he confessed to law enforcement that he had killed Gee.</p><p>“Everything that interests me is a game,” Stuut said. “Chemistry is a game. Science is a game. Life to me is a game, because there's always surprises, always something to keep you excited, unless you just do nothing.”</p><p>Assistant State Attorney J. Ryan Will, who prosecuted the case along with Karen Foxman, told jurors that Stuut confessed to details of the crime that weren't even known by the investigators who talked to him the day after the murder.</p><p>“He had shot her twice in the chest to watch her suffer and then he waited a few moments to enjoy the pleasure of that and shot her once again in the face so that he could watch as the life slowly drained from her body,” Will said in his closing argument.</p><p>Stuut met Gee at an event for the Society for Creative Anachronism, an international organization in which members assume different personas and recreate the history of the Middle Ages and Renaissance era.</p><p>The DeLand-based group Gee was part of is called Shire of Vaca Del Mar, or cow of the sea.</p><p>Gee had served as the group's leader, or “seneschal,” at one time. Gee was known as the Honorable Lady Nekhbet Alexandra Selene after an Egyptian goddess who protected Upper Egypt and its rulers.</p><p>Stuut started renting a room from Gee and the relationship became romantic. The two eventually broke it off by mutual agreement, Stuut testified, but he continued renting a room.</p><p>Prosecutors said Stuut was mooching off the woman. She grew tired of him and when he took a spear that belonged to her and stuck it through a door she kicked him out. That angered Stuut, who found himself living in a car without access to a computer. Several weeks later, Stuut slipped into Gee's house through a sliding glass door and cut her neck and shot her to death.</p><p>The baby of Gee's roommates was in the house in another room during the killing.</p><p>When Volusia County sheriff's investigators went to talk to Stuut he walked out of his grandparent's home with his hands in the air even though deputies had not even told him what they were there for. He initially denied killing her but gave investigators details of the murder that even they did not yet know. During the trial Stuut claimed that one of Gee's roommates had called a friend who in turn relayed the information of her murder to him.</p><p>Then on March 27, 2012, Stuut showed up on his own at the DeLand Police Department and told a detective: “I killed Margaret Gee.” He told the same thing to sheriff's Investigator Charles Lee. Stuut said he had put the .38-caliber revolver and the knife on random semi-trucks and that the weapons were long gone.</p><p>Kenny said that besides Stuut's story, investigators had no DNA, no fingerprints, no weapons tying him to the murder. He said the investigation made Stuut, called “Zero” by other jail inmates, feel important. Kenny referred to Stuut in the interview.</p><p>“He's sitting there and he starts rubbing his hands just like Snidely Whiplash or some cartoon villain,” Kenny said. “This is some guy who still thinks he is still playing games.”</p><p>Gee's daughter-in-law Veturia Gee, 34, of Daytona Beach said she still missed Margaret Gee, calling her a “terrific woman.”</p><p>“I'm very happy with the verdict,” Veturia Gee said. “She got justice.”</p>